Rowena Harvey is shuttled from her Pasadena home to a swimming lesson via HopSkipDrive, a new service that does pickups and drop-offs for parents in Southern California. CareDriver Yelena Kryukova is shown here with Harvey. (Photo by Leo Jarzomb/Pasadena Star-News)

So getting her 12-year-old daughter to swim and soccer practice and other after-school activities was near impossible — until the Pasadena resident enlisted the services of HopSkipDrive.

Launched as a pilot program late last year and as a full service in March, the family-friendly Southern California business offers ride services with experienced caregivers for children ages 7 and up.

Think Uber for kids.

The service targets busy families with parents who often are unable to break away from work to get their children where they need to go.

The company has already delivered thousands of rides all over the Los Angeles area, from Pasadena to the San Fernando Valley, via its more than 100 CareDrivers. They are composed of parents, nannies, teachers, nurses and other caregivers — all with a minimum of five years of childcare experience.

“I run a small law firm and my husband also works super demanding hours, so we had trouble running our kids around in the mid- to late-afternoon to get them to all of their activities,” Grant said. “I’ve been using the service for about six to eight weeks, and it’s worked out better than I ever hoped for.”

Lynda Chung, who lives in Studio City, is equally pleased with HopSkipDrive.

“I’m a litigator but my office is in Century City, so I spend a lot of time commuting,” she said. “And my 14-year-old daughter goes to a Korean school in Hancock Park, which is going the total opposite direction. HopSkipDrive has been great. They pick her up and bring her back home, and the drivers are very friendly.”

Founded by parents Joanna McFarland, Carolyn Yashari Becher and Janelle McGlothlin, HopSkipDrive was created out of personal frustration.

“We created HopSkipDrive to solve the problem we each faced getting our own kids to school and activities,” said McFarland, the company’s chief executive officer. “With eight children between us, we were constantly struggling with the need to be in multiple places at once. We designed HopSkipDrive to be safe enough for our own kids to use, and in doing so, have developed a scalable transportation solution that has been game changing for families.”

The service, however, is out of reach for many Southland families. In the Los Angeles Unified School District, for example, 80 percent of students live at or below the poverty line.

Security key

Needless to say, security is a vital part of the service.

“It’s everything,” McFarland said. “Clients are always cautious when it comes to their kids, as they should be. I think the fact that we are parents ourselves gives other parents a lot of comfort.”

CareDrivers are vetted through background checks and are also fingerprinted. They must pass a 15-point driver certification process that includes an in-person driver’s training and orientation, a 19-point vehicle inspection, a one-on-one interview, have a clean driving record and a host of other requirements.

Pattie Fitzgerald, founder of Safely Ever After Inc., a Santa Monica-based organization that provides up-to-date information and prevention education programs to help empower families against child predators, is impressed by HopSkipDrive’s safety measures.

“I think it’s a wonderful concept because it serves a need that is across the board for parents pretty much anywhere,” she said. “I understand the need for service, but more importantly the need to ensure that the drivers are safe. They’ve gone the extra mile with background checks, training and constant checks through the DMV. I really thought I would find something they overlooked, but I didn’t.”

Parents can buy one ride or a package of up to 50 rides at a time. The per-ride cost ranges from $12 to $20 depending on the option a client chooses. Parents can also track their child’s ride in real time through a HopSkipDrive app. Rides must be scheduled at least eight hours in advance.

Drivers are paid by the ride, with some providing one to two rides a week and others doing many more, according to McFarland.

“We plan to expand throughout the rest of Southern California,” McFarland said. “But we get cries for help from all over the country. This is a universal problem for parents who can’t be two places at once.”

Kevin Smith handles business news and editing for the Southern California News Group, which includes 11 newspapers, websites and social media channels. He covers everything from employment, technology and housing to retail, corporate mergers and business-based apps. Kevin often writes stories that highlight the local impact of trends occurring nationwide. And the focus is always to shed light on why those issues matter to readers in Southern California.